Somewhat less experimental than it was at the end of 2002, this blog still draws its inspiration from the participants of SHWI (soc.history.what-if Usenet newsgroup) who had introduced me to this new phenomenon. The blog is still in search of its definite shape, style and general theme of posts. However, if someone insists on short definitions, I must admit that the shortest way to define it is something to do with its location – Split, Croatia.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Severina Keeps Clout

Severina Vučković (Severina Vuckovic) reacted to the sex tape brouhaha just like most celebrities do – by shielding herself with sycophants from media and entertainment establishment and by hiring top Croatian lawyers who promised to get "tens and hundreds of millions of dollars from lawsuits".

Some took those claims seriously. There was speculation about Slovenian state television having to increase viewing subscription (tax) in order to pay for the damages after airing few clips from the aforementioned video.

However, at least one of those lawsuits, against Belgrade daily Kurir, never materialised. There isn't any word about lawsuit against Slovenian media either.

But there are those media houses that are much easier pickings. One of them is index.hr, news site that broke the story. Office of Zagreb attorney Anto Nobilo has filed a lawsuit against index.hr, demanding 75000 HRK (10000 €) for copyright violations and 125000 HRK (cca 17000 €) for privacy violations.

Although the amount is relatively small, Severina nevertheless managed to show her clout. While ordinary mortals forced to rely on Croatian judiciary have to wait years before such cases reach courtroom, Commerce Court in Zagreb reacted with incredible speed and scheduled first hearing for tomorrow at 10:00.

Index.hr says that they would hire sexologist as an expert witness in order to establish whether Severina's activities in front of camera – something their attorneys claim to be "the work of art" - represent "new standards of pornography industry" or not.